When Gifts Attack
by Griddlebone
Summary: When Jason buys Trini something special for her birthday, things don't go as planned. Friendship fic, with minor implications of Jason/Trini.
1. The Predicament

Jason scowled.

His opponent sat up a little straighter and glared right back.

They were at a stand-off. "You're making this harder than it has to be," he pointed out.

The little gray rabbit flicked an ear, then carefully licked a paw.

"Just get back in the cage, and everything will be fine." He pushed the cage forward a few inches, hoping the rabbit would take the hint and go in. But his hopes were in vain. The rabbit hopped off a few paces, slipped safely under a nearby table, and resumed its grooming.

By this point, Jason knew that if he lunged for the rabbit, it would just skip out of his reach and watch him, mockingly, from a distance.

_I can fight alien monsters any day of the week, but I can't catch a little rabbit?_ Jason's shoulders slumped a little.

How had he gotten himself into this mess? Oh, right. It had all started on Pet Adoption Day...

-x-

_"Oh, he's so cute!" Trini sighed, sticking a finger through the cage bars and wiggling it. The rabbit inside ambled cautiously over to investigate._

Jason smiled. "Yeah, I hope we can find him a good home today..."

"I always wanted a bunny," Trini added. "If we can't find a home for him, maybe I can take him."

-x-

But they had found a home for the little black rabbit Trini had admired so much that day, so when her birthday rolled around, Jason made the fateful decision to buy her one of her own.

That decision had led him to this predicament.

How was he supposed to know that not all rabbits were as docile as the one he'd handled earlier? That they weren't just feisty, they were slippery?

The rabbit eyed him warily, as if following his train of thought.

From somewhere behind him, Kimberly giggled madly.

_This sucks._


	2. Placing the Blame

"This is your fault," Jason muttered.

"How is this my fault?" Kimberly asked, trying not to laugh.

"I only brought it here so you could see it, too," he pointed out, turning his head to glare at her.

She did laugh, then. And she rolled her eyes, too, just to add insult to injury. "Yeah, because I never go to Trini's house, so there's no way I could have ever seen it there. Face it, Jase, you just wanted to show off and now you got yourself in trouble."

"There wouldn't be any trouble if this rabbit would just cooperate."

"Alright, alright," Kim said, crouching down next to him and grinning wickedly. "I'll help you catch him. Maybe he'll come to me, since I'm less big and scary than you are."

She wormed her way carefully under the table where their quarry was hiding, making sure not to disturb any of the chairs or make any sudden movements that might startle the rabbit. "Hey there, little guy," she crooned softly, slowly extending one arm so the rabbit could sniff at her hand and see that she meant no harm.

"That's a good little -"

She cut herself off and frowned when it became obvious that the rabbit had no intention of behaving. It skittered out from under the table as soon as she got close, making its way toward the workout mats. And it didn't just walk. It pranced.

Kim groaned. "Jason, when you went to the pet store, did you ask for the most obnoxious rabbit they had, or what?"

"What? No," he retorted, annoyed that she would criticize his choice. "I thought they were supposed to be cute, cuddly little things. Not... this."

She sighed. "Alright, let's see if we can catch him. And hope that Trini can tame him."


	3. Staredown

Jason was right back where he had started. He glared at the rabbit where it sat, not six feet away, in the middle of the Youth Center's practice mats. It watched him with one eye, occasionally sniffing curiously at the air.

It really didn't help matters that now he didn't just have Kimberly watching him and giggling with amusement, but an entire class of eight year-old dance students. In the interest of not harming the little rabbit, the students had moved to the edges of the room, leaving Jason at the center of attention.

_This is just great. You better appreciate this, Trini._

His plan had been to inch closer to the rabbit slowly enough that it would not become alarmed and move away, but it seemed to be on to him. Every time he moved closer, it moved away.

"Hey, Jase, I've got an idea," Kimberly called. "Let's use the kids."

"I don't want anybody to get hurt," he pointed out.

"Nobody will get hurt. We'll have everyone sit in a circle and close in on it," she suggested. "It won't have anywhere to go where someone can't grab it."

"It's worth a shot," he said, glancing up at the clock with a sigh. Trini would be here soon, and it would be really rude of him to give her a gift that had... escaped.

Making sure to keep an eye on the rabbit so it couldn't wander off, Jason and Kimberly managed to get all the kids into position and explain the plan.

It almost worked.

The rabbit simply leapt past the nearest young girl, who screeched and ducked, and skipped away. Jason flopped back onto the mat in defeat; Kimberly laughed.

"It went into the women's locker room, Jase. I'll go get it."

_I'm never going to hear the end of this._


	4. Making Trouble

Rita Repulsa looked through her telescope, peering first at one group of those pesky Power Rangers, then at another. They were separated right now, which meant it would be a good time to strike.

She just needed to figure out her angle of attack.

Turning the lens upon Jason and Kimberly - ooh, those two were always so annoying! - she was struck by a brilliant idea.

The Red and Pink Rangers were chasing down a small Earth creature, a rabbit. Their strained conversation informed her that it was intended to be a gift for their friend, the Yellow Ranger, but it had escaped.

Rita grinned. "Oh, the little Rangers want to give their friend a gift? I'll show you how to give a gift."

There was no time to summon Finster or Goldar to assist her, so she simply magicked up an enchanted carrot and dropped it in front of the rabbit. As soon as the rabbit ate from the carrot, it would turn into a monster, one capable, no doubt, of destroying the Power Rangers.

"Ooh," Rita congratulated herself, "I'm such a genius!"

-x-

The locker room was dark, but empty. It took her a moment to locate the renegade rabbit.

"Ah, there you are, little guy," Kimberly said, finally spotting it. She made sure to keep her tone high and sweet so as to be as nonthreatening as possible. "What have you found?"

The rabbit, huddled under a bench, was munching happily on a large carrot.

She frowned. "A carrot? What is that doing in here?"

She found out a moment later, when the rabbit began to grow and change. "Oh, no..."

Kim skittered backward, thankful that no one else was in the locker room to see her graceless flailing as she fled.

"Jason, that is the scariest, angriest rabbit I have ever seen!"


	5. Reinforcements

Tommy wondered what the commotion was when he walked into the Youth Center. He reeled as Kimberly shot out of the women's locker room and ran for Jason, screaming something about an angry rabbit.

He only had to wonder for a moment longer.

An enormous, roughly humanoid, and very angry rabbit burst out of the room Kimberly had just vacated, clutching a large carrot in one paw and scowling about at the suddenly terrified students. There was no question: this was one of Rita's monsters.

He instinctively slipped into a defensive stance, shouting to Jason and Kim, "We've got to get everyone out of here!"

By now it was their standard routine, and they knew the drill well: get everyone out of the vicinity, make sure the coast was clear, morph, and beat down the baddie. Or at least they were supposed to know the drill.

The kids weren't as quick to run away as one might hope, peering around eagerly for a sign of the Power Rangers who would surely show up now that a monster was afoot, and Tommy and Jason were fully prepared to try to take down the monster rabbit without bothering to morph. After all, it was a rabbit. How dangerous could it be?

Kimberly was displeased.

"I know you guys are both awesome fighters and stuff," she said pointedly, "but maybe you should leave giant monster bunnies to the professionals, like the Power Rangers?"

Jason and Tommy exchanged glances. "Good point."

After glancing behind them to make sure that the rest of the students and staff were fleeing the Youth Center, the three Rangers slipped - unnoticed - into the empty back hallway. Jason contacted the other Rangers via communicator as soon as they were alone.

"Guys," he announced in his best 'fearless leader' voice, "We've got a problem."


	6. Make My Monster Grow

A short time after Jason's announcement of impending trouble, teleportation and morphing song-and-dance out of the way, the Power Rangers prepared to take on Rita's latest monster.

"It's a rabbit," Zack pointed out, poorly stifling laughter. "A rabbit monster. Hey, Rita! It's not even Easter yet!"

As if in response to the jibe, putties appeared all around the Rangers. The ensuing battle gave the rabbit monster time to escape, but not for long, for the Power Rangers made typically short work of Rita's putties.

With one nuisance out of the way, the Rangers faced the task of tracking down the monster, which was not as easy as it sounded. It was quick and did not want to engage them in battle, preferring to sneak around causing chaos instead.

After spending nearly half an hour chasing it around the Youth Center and the nearby park, a frazzled Jason declared that maybe they should try summoning the Power Blaster to take care of it once and for all.

But it wasn't meant to be.

-x-

Far up on the moon, Rita Repulsa saw what they were up to.

"Oh no you don't, you pesky Power Brats!" She wasn't quite sure who she was shouting at, since the Power Rangers couldn't hear her and her worthless servants had nothing to do with this latest endeavor, but she kept going anyway. "Let's see how you like this monster when it's big enough to squash you! Magic Wand, make my monster grow!"

At the magic word, the rabbit monster began to grow and grow, until it towered over not only the Power Rangers, but the entire city of Angel Grove.

"Yes," Rita crooned, watching with glee as her monster experimented with its new size, nearly crushing one of the Power Rangers. "That's more like it. Now smash them, my beautiful monster!"


	7. Mine, Mine, Mine

It was a good day to be a rabbit.

Or at least it was a good day to be this rabbit. This rabbit suddenly found itself growing much larger than it usually was; this might have been alarming, but it had found a delicious carrot to eat, which more than made up for the change.

Cautiously, slowly, it began to explore its surroundings. It knew it must remain constantly on the alert, lest a predator sneak up on it and catch it.

It sniffed thoughtfully at one of the nearby buildings, then rubbed its face against the structure. _Mine._ Its ears swiveled at the sound of screams that emanated faintly from within the building. It rubbed again for good measure. _Mine._

Building by building, the rabbit made its way across the city of Angel Grove, claiming all it could see.

As it wandered, it occurred to the rabbit that there was something else it was supposed to be doing, something that its mistress wanted it to accomplish. Obviously the person who foolishly thought herself to be its mistress did not realize just how important it was to make sure everyone knew who these buildings belonged to.

The mistress-lady had a lot of nerve, shouting and shrieking at it to obey orders like that. Foolish, thinking to control a _rabbit_.

It paused and licked its forepaws clean.

Suddenly, the rabbit found itself confronted by large and loud creature, as big as it was. _Predator!_

When it thumped the ground with its powerful hind feet, the ground rumbled and shook, sending the warning out for miles. The rabbit fled to safety among the tall buildings, which would surely hide it from the predator.

Eventually, when there was no further sign of the predator, it calmed. It took a bite of its carrot.

Yes, it was a good day to be a rabbit.


	8. Megazord vs Giant Bunny

Usually, Rita's monsters had a very clear idea of what she wanted them to do (which always amounted to "destroy the Power Rangers"). This one was... wandering through the city, rubbing its face on things and looking pleased with itself.

"What is it doing?" Kimberly asked the question that was on each Power Ranger's mind.

No one had an answer. Finally, Billy conjectured, "I believe it may be scent-marking."

"Scent-marking?" Zack asked.

Billy nodded. "It's possible that the rabbit is staking a claim over the city."

Zack mulled that over. Kimberly made an "ew, gross" face. Trini and Jason watched the rabbit thoughtfully.

"So how do we stop it?" Jason asked.

"Well, where did it come from?" Trini countered. "It was at the Youth Center... so how did it get there? If it's an ordinary rabbit under a spell, we should try to break the spell without hurting it. If not, blasting it usually works."

"It was supposed to be -" Jason muttered.

"It was an ordinary rabbit. It got loose in the Youth Center somehow," Kimberly interrupted, shooting him an annoyed look that he couldn't see through her visor anyway. "When I tried to catch it, it went in the locker room. There was this huge carrot on the floor, and when the rabbit ate it, it turned into... that."

"So if we destroy the carrot, it should return to normal," Billy theorized.

"It's worth a shot." Turning back to the monster, Jason shouted, "Hey, you overgrown rabbit! Over here!"

The rabbit monster glanced toward them, but rather than approach, it thumped its feet against the ground, alarmed, and ran away. The force of the thump made the ground shake, buildings wobbling precariously. Even Megazord was thrown off balance.

"Okay," Jason announced angrily. "We've got to stop that thing."


	9. Beautiful Monster

Rita scowled. This was not how her monsters were supposed to act. Her beautiful monster seemed to have a mind of its own and, more worryingly, no interest at all in destroying the Power Rangers.

She had used her magic to create it, and then to make it grow... and all for this? Rita wasn't just disappointed, she was angry.

"You better destroy those Power Rangers for me!" she snarled.

The rabbit flicked an ear, then rubbed its face on another building, demonstrating obnoxiously that it had no intention of following orders.

"You're as worthless as Goldar!" Rita fumed.

-x-

"How can we get that carrot from it if it just keeps running away?" Zack demanded.

The Rangers were thoroughly exasperated. Usually monsters wanted to fight them; this one ran away every time they got close, causing earthquakes in its wake.

"Maybe we should try to sneak up on it," Kimberly suggested.

"With those ears, it'll hear us a mile away," Trini pointed out.

"Perhaps we could make use of the Dragonzord and chase it toward us," Billy mused.

"That's a great idea," Jason agreed. "Hey, Tommy, you hear that? Let's bring the Dragonzord in here."

"You got it," came the response via the comm system, accompanied by the telltale peal of the Dragon Dagger's call.

Between the two powerful robots, the Rangers managed to corner the rabbit; it didn't take kindly to being trapped and lashed out at the Dragonzord, snarling and clawing. Seizing the opportunity, Megazord used the Power Sword to destroy the magic carrot.

With the magic carrot gone, the rabbit lost its monstrous features and returned to its original form. The Rangers celebrated their victory, even if some of their number were more reserved than usual, while up on the moon Rita howled her fury at the destruction of her latest masterpiece.


	10. Happy Birthday

"Hey, Jase," Trini said brightly, taking a seat next to Jason. "What's the matter?"

The question made him look rather uncomfortable.

"Yeah," Kimberly said teasingly, "What's wrong?"

"The rabbit was for you, Trini," he admitted finally. Jason didn't take failure well, but finding the rabbit seemed like a lost cause at this point. "It got away from me and then Rita turned it into a monster..."

"It was for me?" Trini seemed incredulous.

"I remembered how much you liked the one we had at Pet Adoption Day," he explained. "I thought you might like one of your own."

Laughing: "You actually remembered that?"

He shot her an amused look. "I have to remember that stuff. You're a hard person to buy gifts for."

"Sorry."

"I'm the one that let your gift get away," he pointed out.

"It's the thought that counts," she assured him, smiling in amusement.

Tommy picked that moment to make his grand entrance.

"Hey Jason, I think I've got something of yours," he announced. The little gray rabbit that had caused so much trouble was curled up in his arms. "Found this little guy wandering around downtown. I think he likes me."

It didn't even seem like the same rabbit. It was calm and docile, sitting happily on Tommy's arm and peering around with bright black eyes.

"Oh, it's so cute," Trini murmured appreciatively.

"Well, take him," Tommy urged. "I seem to recall hearing that this was supposed to be for you."

Kimberly looked smug at that; Jason looked annoyed. Trini didn't pay them any mind.

Tommy handed off the rabbit and took a seat next to Kimberly while Trini acquainted herself with the rabbit. Apparently it only hated Kim and Jason. "He's adorable. Thank you, Jason."

"Just be careful," Jason cautioned grumpily. "He likes to get into trouble."


	11. Bonus Chapter: Minor Details

"Something's been bugging me," Jason announced, taking an uninvited seat next to Kimberly and helping himself to a big slice of leftover birthday pie that was sitting uneaten and ignored on the table.

"What's up?" she asked.

"It's about Trini's rabbit."

Kim tilted her head slightly. "The one Rita turned into a monster?" Jason nodded. "What about it?"

"How come it was afraid of me because I'm 'big and scary', but it was just fine with Tommy?"

Kimberly was silent for a minute. Finally, she could contain herself no longer, and burst out laughing. "Oh, Jase, I don't know. It didn't seem to like me very much either, and I don't exactly fit the definition of big and scary."

Jason crossed his arms over his chest and frowned; Kimberly only giggled harder.

"Knock it off. People will think you've lost it for real this time."

"Oh, just be glad Trini's not a rabbit," she suggested, struggling to calm herself. "She likes you no matter how big and scary you are."

"It's not funny."

"Yes, it is," she assured him.

Jason did not look convinced, much less amused.

"It's hilarious. Trust me. You just can't see it yet, but someday you will."


	12. Bonus Chapter: Making Progress

Author's note: I was looking through some old files today and found this. Hope you enjoy!

-x-

The rabbit regarded Jason with wary eyes and wiggling nose.

"It's okay," Trini soothed. "I know he's big and scary, but he won't hurt you."

Jason tried to ignore her, but her words were just a bit irritating. Kimberly had said the same thing about him in relation to that rabbit not that long ago. Well, he might be big (especially from the rabbit's point of view), but _scary_? Did his friends really see him that way?

"Jason," Trini said, her voice gently teasing. "Stop sulking. He hasn't bolted yet this time."

She had a point. When he came to visit, the rabbit usually disappeared with a thump of alarm or sat in a suitably distant corner and glared at him for daring to invade its space and approach its human. But this time Trini had been able to settle it on her lap and coax it to stay. It was progress. Hopefully.

After a few more minutes of gentle soothing, it was now or never. "Let him sniff your hand."

Jason slowly reached over and allowed the rabbit to sniff the back of his hand. Much to his surprise, it made no attempt to run.

He glanced to Trini for reassurance and she nodded enthusiastically. "See if he'll let you pet him."

He carefully stroked a finger along the rabbit's tiny forehead, and got the impression of surprising softness before the rabbit took off running. It stopped to glare at him from the opposite end of Trini's bed.

"I don't think that rabbit is ever going to like me," Jason muttered.

Trini suppressed a giggle. "You're doing better," she pointed out. "He's not hiding. I'm sure he'll warm up to you eventually. We just need to keep at it."

"Yeah, sure," he said, deliberately avoiding the rabbit's disgruntled gaze.

Trini leaned over, bumping her shoulder against his arm. "Jason, stop worrying. I don't like him better than you."

He glanced down at her, surprised. He hadn't been thinking that.

Had he?


End file.
